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American Urban Legends: Crybaby Bridges
American Urban Legends: Crybaby Bridges
For Halloween 2022, I am taking a quick detour from my usual posts and the lore vs the facts for something more fun - American Urban Legends! We all have our favorite ones, told around the campfire or at slumber parties. No one ever really knows how the legend started, but we all know some version of it...
Stepping away from the facts and with no debunking allowed, this spooky season I want to bring you not just the generic story, but possible locations for origins, eyewitness accounts of monsters, and any possible "how-to" when it comes to summoning...whatever goes bump in your lore.
Now don't say I didn't warn you. After all, I didn't check the facts. Today's legend might not get you, but go looking too deep and I'm sure another one will.
Crybaby Bridges
You're driving down a dark, unfamiliar road, late at night. You aren't really sure if you are even on the right road, so you pull over to check the GPS. As it updates painfully slow, you hear the sound of a crying baby. You roll down your window and, yes, that's definitely a baby crying, so you get out. You look around, taking your phone out to use as a flashlight, you try your hardest to find the baby, the one that won't stop crying and sounds so close, but you just can't find it. You call 911 for help and when asked for your location, are told there is no crying baby, you are hearing phantom sounds. You plead with the operator, begging them to send someone out to help you look, but they tell you the baby you are hearing died years ago in a car crash...
Crybaby bridges are places where, you guessed it, babies died. Creepy, right? The legend goes that if you pull over and sit quietly, you will hear the cries of a baby who was drowned by its young mother. In a case or two, the cries aren't from a baby, but from the child's mother or group of children.
Cooper Road Crybaby Bridge - Middletown, New Jersey
It's said if you drive over the bridge at 1 AM, park in the middle, and wait, you will hear the cries of the baby who drowned in the water below. If you turn your car off, you will not be able to restart it. Legend doesn't say how long you have to wait, but my guess is long enough for energy to manifest itself.
This bridge has two stories linked to it. Which is true? Who knows! That's the thing about urban legends, you never know how much of the story is true and how much is made up for fun and scares.
The first story is your standard crybaby bridge tale of woe, a young unwed mother drowns her infant and the cries of the baby can still be heard. The second story is a bit sadder. There was a bus full of children that ran off the road to the water below and all the children drowned. Legend goes that if your car is in neutral, it will not only be pushed uphill but little hand prints will be left on your car. So creepy baby cries or tiny ghost hands? Which is less creepy? 😂
You know my North Carolina, born and raised self had to include at least one creepy NC spot on this list, right? Truth be told, North Carolina, like most states, has its fair share of haunted bridges. But Sally's Bridge makes the list today as it is a lesser-known one.
Legend goes that Sally was driving down Poplar Tent Road one night with her infant in the car when she lost control, crashing her car. Her baby was tossed from the car and fell into the water below. In an effort to find her child, Sally drove her car into the water and drowned as well. Now cars that park on the bridge will hear Sally bang on the car, hoping someone will help her find her baby.
For more stories and legends like these, check out Lily's Library.
Now fellow lore lovers, I hope you have enjoyed today's glimpse into Crybaby Bridges. As almost every state I checked had multiple crybaby bridges, I am sure there is one near you, should you wish to explore. Just do me a couple of favors: obey all traffic laws, keep your doors locked and engine running, record it if you can, and if you do encounter a ghost, be polite.
Be sure to check out the rest of the American Urban Legends. I will update the main page as I share posts but to make sure you don't miss a legend, sign up for email notifications. I swear, I will only message you when there is a new post or extra important news, like they just caught Bigfoot for real for real.
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